Bewildering Temptation
by longing.for.redemption
Summary: Oh yes, Akiyama knew what he wanted. Now the question was how he was going to get it.
1. The magazines, not the paintbrush!

**A/N:** It's spring, the cherry blossoms are out, and my other two fics are emo, so I decided to write something a little more lighthearted. That, and I got some unexpected inspiration lately to write something that's longer than a few hundred words. So thanks saiyasluv, this one's for you! No spoilers, reviews are much appreciated! Enjoy! XD

**Disclaimer: **Even if I claimed to own Akiyama & co., nobody would believe me anyway....

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**Chapter 1 – The magazines, not the paintbrush!**

Akiyama Shinichi was a genius. People called him a swindler, but he had always preferred the more neutral term 'strategist.' Yes, that's what he was: a genius strategist who happened to sometimes employ his abilities to lie, cheat, and swindle. Once he knew what he wanted, he prided himself in always being able to see, almost immediately, all the different possible routes he could take to get it which, when combined with his knack for anticipating people's responses before they actually respond, gave him an almost 100% success rate. In short, he always got what he wanted, no ands ifs or buts.

And right now, lounging languidly on the couch, arms stretched out across the backrest on either side as if to claim the whole thing for himself, he knew exactly what he wanted, and she was right in front of him, in the form of one Kanzaki Nao. He watched as she flittered around the kitchen, adjusting the stove dials, lifting the lids of pots and peering into the oven, her movements so fast it almost seemed like she was in multiple places at the same time. Her cream-colored dress was simple but elegant, ending just above her knees in a clean horizontal cut, with cherry blossom designs weaving sensually down one side, accentuating the soft curves of her body. On anyone else, it would have just been a normal pretty dress, but on innocent Nao it was almost lascivious. As if to compensate for the promiscuity of it, she wore a modest brown cardigan on top, which, if anything, made her look even more attractive. Even the hideous shocking neon pink apron with frilly black lace edgings added to her appeal, in a clashing, only-Nao-could-pull-it-off sort of way.

_Or_, the voice in the corner of his mind commented snidely, _maybe you're just acting like a creepy rapist stalker._ He ignored it.

Oh yes, Akiyama knew what he wanted. Now the question was how he was going to get it. It really wasn't that hard of a goal to achieve. After all, if his observations of her were correct, the slight shiver that ran up her body whenever he was in her personal space, the hint of uncertainty and confusion in her expression when they maintained eye contact for too long, the way her eyes lit up and her aura almost sparkled when he showed up randomly at her door tonight, she was just as attracted to him as he was to her. He was just better at hiding it. With this knowledge, he actually had the upper hand because he had already calculated that the chances of his advances getting rejected were close to zero.

As he watched, she suddenly stood on her tiptoes, trying to reach for something in one of the upper cupboards. His musings came to an abrupt halt as his brain overloaded at the sight of her ass flaunted out in his direction, stretching and filling the back of her dress until it was tight and round, just begging to be touched. Luckily, despite that most of his blood was currently rushing downwards towards another certain part of his body, the cerebral short circuit was fixed in the matter of seconds. His mental computer quickly recalculated everything, taking into account the newest information, and it suddenly occurred to him that, being the gentleman that he was, he should use his advantageous height to help the beautiful damsel in distress.

Pushing himself up onto his feet in one fluid motion, he stealthily stalked over in his usual slouch, hands in his pockets until he was standing directly behind her. Then, with a deliberate slowness, he pressed up against her unsuspecting back, bit by bit, body part by body part, in succession, from their legs all the way up to his chest against her shoulders. The effect was immediate: she stiffened and froze into an immobile statue.

Chuckling silently at her predictable response, he took one hand out his pocket, slid it leisurely from her shoulder to her neck, and started to knead the muscles there, starting out gentle but with increasing pressure. After five rubs or so, the magic worked when she released all the tension in her body with one big shudder. Without stopping his one-handed massage, he reached up with his other hand and easily grabbed what she was trying to get from the shelf, making sure that in the process he was pressed more firmly against her. Bringing it down, he bent his head so that his lips grazed against her ear when he murmured, "here," before placing it in her hands, smirking in triumph at her sharp intake of breath.

She turned around, rotating within his arms until she was facing him, forcing him to draw back slightly to allow room for the object she clutched in her hands between. Even though her clothes and hair were still all neatly in place, she looked somewhat dishevelled with her wide questioning eyes and a flush that, he noted with interest, extended down her neck, past her collarbone, and disappeared under the horizontal neckline of her dress. His eyebrows drew together slightly as he stared at it, wondering idly just how far down it went. His eyes flickered down to the slight bit of thigh that was visible. No, the skin there was definitely normal coloured. That means the answer must lie under the dress, somewhere between the top and the bottom. His brain started riffling through the possible ways he could find out.

"Akiyama-san?"

The sound of her voice pierced through his digressing thoughts and startled, he dragged his eyes back up to her face. In his haste, he must have let his usual expressionless mask slip, because her questioning eyes widened in surprise. A very awkward silence settled between them as she tried to make sense of the whole situation, and he tried to figure out what damage had been done and whether it was repairable.

Then as if she had reached a satisfying conclusion, she relaxed and, to his horror, her face broke into that wide smile she always used after she had (wrongly) ascertained someone's 'pure' and 'most honourable' intentions. Her eyes were no longer clouded with emotions but shining with utmost trust and admiration.

"Akiyama-san, thank you for helping me!" Her disgustingly innocent tone of voice completely shattered what little of the mood was left still lingering between them. "Despite your poker face, you're really a very kind person, aren't you?"

_No! No! No!_ His brain screamed childishly while the voice in the corner snickered, something about getting what he deserved. _This wasn't supposed to happen! No normal person would have interpreted that as being helpful!_

Unfortunately, he knew better than anyone else that Kanzaki Nao was anything but normal. If she was, he wouldn't be so obsessively fascinated with her.

"But…I was trying to get the magazines, not the paintbrush," she added, holding out the brush in her hands for him to take back.

He stared at her blankly for a moment before reaching out to take it and put it back on the shelf, still trying to process the sudden turn of events. By this time, she had slid herself out sideways and was now standing beside him, waiting expectantly for her magazines. He took them down and gave them to her, and she went back to her cooking, their brief interaction already classified and filed away safely under the "Evidence That Akiyama-san Is Kind" category in her mental computer.

It wasn't till much, much later that he realized the kitchen cupboard was a very strange place to store magazines and paintbrushes.

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Love it? Hate it? Continue? Discontinue? Akiyama is hot? Tell me about it in a review! XD


	2. Woes of the Anaemic

**A/N: **Wow, I blink and a whole month passes by since I've updated! Crazy! A great big thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys really gave me the motivation to keep writing! Anyway, this chapter didn't turn out quite what I had planned or expected, and I'm not sure what to think of it. Oh well. Hope you enjoy it as much as the first? XD **  
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**Disclaimer: **Even if I claimed to own Akiyama & co., nobody would believe me anyway....

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**Chapter 2 – ****Woes of the Anaemic**

When Akiyama had finally gotten over his shock, magazines and paintbrushes were the least of his worries. It had been a long time since he had tasted failure, and though he was a little irritated by the break in his winning streak, a bigger part of him was thrilled at being presented with a challenge for the first time in a very long time. With his resolved strengthened, he vowed that if Nao hadn't understood his advances on her last time, then he will just have to step it up one level and make his intentions even more blatantly obvious.

He started where they had left off, walking up to where she stood in front of the kitchen counter, cutting some vegetables. He placed his hands on her waist and slid them gently down, his hands barely grazing the fabric of her dress. Arriving at her hips, he spanned out his fingers and applied a bit more pressure to his palm, rubbing a few gentle circles, before moving his arms around to the front to wrap around her stomach, pulling her tightly against him, resting his chin on her shoulder so that his cheek was pressed against hers. There, even she should know the meaning of this embrace! He felt her jump slightly in surprise, the knife waving dangerously in the air for a moment.

"Akiyama-san?!" She sounded a little unsteady and out of breath. He smiled. Yes, this was the response he was waiting for! Unfortunately, he had thought too soon. "What are you…oh! I'm so sorry! Are you cold? I'll go turn up the heating!" She moved as if to go do that, but realized that she couldn't with his arms still around her. "Um, Akiyama-san…?"

"No." Why would he be cold? It was the middle of July! If anything, he was hot, extremely so, and in more ways than one! He grimaced at the revoltingly lame pun his brain had just made, glad that he had the sense not to have voiced it out loud. The downside to spending so much time with Nao was that his attributes started assimilating to hers. God knows, he has been feeling sorry for some people lately and actually _wanting_ to help them from time to time. As if that wasn't enough, recently, when she had 'lent' some money to a stranger on the street who had 'desperately needed some money to take the bus home and promises to return it to her ASAP,' he had found, to his utmost horror, that he truly wanted to believe the man was honest, even though his logic told him that 99% it was a scam! Anyway, the fact was he had been losing his street wisdom and picking up Nao's idiosyncrasies at a disturbing rate lately and he prayed to whatever deity may exist that his wit would not be the next thing to go. Here, his brain interrupted with a remainder that divine intervention was one of the least reliable sources of aid and if he was desperate enough to try to rely on it then maybe he was already beyond help. He ignored it.

"I'm not cold," he added, just to clarify because, as he had learned, one could never be too clear when it came to dealing with Nao. Turning his head downwards, he buried his face into her neck and inhaled deeply, imprinting her scent on his mind.

"Uh…then…" She sounded confused for a moment, but not for long. "Oh! Do you like the smell of my hair? I knew it was a good choice! I was at the supermarket the other day looking for my regular shampoo when I noticed that, while all the other brands only have a few bottles left, this one brand was still stocked all the way to the back of the shelf, and it looked so pitiful and lonely, like an unwanted child, that I couldn't help but buy-"

"No!" he growled in frustration and buried his face in the crook of her neck, breaking off her incessant chatter. What was he doing wrong? Why wouldn't she get the idea already?! How could anyone be this clueless?! And who feels sorry for unwanted shampoo anyway?! He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing, his muffled voice vibrating against her neck so that she more felt them than heard them. "I'm not cold and it's not about your shampoo either!" Though it did smell rather nice. He made a mental note to ask her about it AFTER he's accomplished his main goal. "I'm not depressed, and I don't need a hug! That's not why I'm doing this! Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Silence.

Then, finally, with her voice was reduced to a whisper, "I guess you realized…?"

He lifted his head and turned his face upwards in surprise. He had half expected her to make another random nonsensical interpretation of his actions. Was he finally getting through to her? "Yes," he breathed in her ear, gently urging her to continue before lowering his head to rest his chin on her shoulder again.

"But how did you...? I thought I hid it so well."

"How could I not?" If the situation allowed it, he would have snorted at the thought of innocent naïve Nao being able to hide any of her emotions at all, but since he was currently aiming for a much bigger fish, he swallowed his amusement and went along with the flow. "We've spent so much time together lately that I'd be really stupid not to notice."

"Well, if you know already, then I guess there's no helping it," she said resignedly, "but you can't tell my father about it. I don't want to make him worry unnecessarily."

He frowned. Okay, he hadn't anticipated that. Although he could understand where she's coming from–what kind of father would want to see his daughter with an unemployed guy with a criminal record for swindling–it still didn't stop the twinge of pain he felt in his heart at the thought that Nao might be _ashamed_ of him.

_What had you been expecting?_ He chided himself bitterly. _Did you really think that, just because Nao's different from other people, she'd jump up and down with joy at the thought of being with you? That she'd be so excited and happy, she'd drag you to the hospital to introduce you to her father?_

Yes. In fact, that was exactly what he had thought would happen, so shoot him! All he wanted was that little bit of happiness that everyone else seemed to have in their lives! Was that really too much to….

"...-yama-san?"

For the second time that night, he was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of his name. Nao had turned her head and was waiting for his reply with an expression of apprehension. Not for the first time, and definitely not for the last either, he wondered about the lengths that he would go for this woman in front of him.

"Okay, okay, I get it." He gave her a cynical smile. Maybe it would better if he backed off from the whole thing. Put a little distance between them so that he could think properly again without having his thoughts coloured by her morals. Yet, even as he was formulating these thoughts, he already knew that it wouldn't happen. She was the only remaining thread of light that still tied him to sanity, to any sort of belief or faith in the goodness of people; without her, he'd drown in his own contempt for the rest of the world.

Relief flooded her eyes. "Oh thank you!" she exclaimed. "Father's got enough on his plate without having to worry about my anaemia too!"

Akiyama turned away, unable to bear the sight of her brilliant smile in his current mood. _Yeah, it's good thing that her father won't have to worry about…wait…what did she just say?!_ His head swivelled back to look at her.

"What? What anaemia?!" he asked in bewilderment, unable to grasp the turn of events and not quite daring to believe his ears.

Nao gave him a puzzled look. "My anaemia. That's what we're talking about, right? I don't want father to worry about it because it's nothing compared to the illness that he has."

"But…you have anaemia?" Vaguely, in the back of his mind, he realized that he sounded like a broken record, but he didn't really care. He had to confirm this.

"Yeah. That's why you're holding me up, right? Because you saw that I was slightly unsteady on my feet?" She turned back to her vegetables. "But you don't have to worry, it's not that bad. Just random spells of dizziness when I'm really hungry. I won't faint or anything." She felt his arms constricting almost painfully around her.

"Why do you have anaemia?" Akiyama demanded, his short lived relief already completely replaced by worry. "Do you eat properly? You need more meat and spinach in your diet! And you need to take it easy at work too, because knowing you, you probably push yourself way past your own limits everyday! You're always worrying about other people, but what about yourself? I think you need to worry more about yourse-"

He stopped at the sound of her laughter, bright, sincere, and full of mirth like everything else she was. Turning his face slightly, he found that she was looking at him, her eyes sparkling with barely hidden amusement. He had never seen Nao with such a mischievous expression.

"Akiyama-san, you're quite the mother hen, aren't you?" His eyes narrowed at the thought that she might be laughing at his concern. "Well, it's been a long time since I had someone worry about me, not since father got hospitalized. It's not a bad feeling." Her voice became wistful and he suddenly realized that the young woman in his arms was just as fragile as she was strong.

"If you want, I'll worry about you everyday from now on."

The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying. His eyes widened at the same time hers did. Oh gods, he couldn't believe he just said something so extremely cheesy and embarrassing! And the way he had said it made it sound like a…marriage proposal.... He flushed at the thought, though his face stayed as expressionless as ever. His brain was now a bloody battlefield between his instincts, which was telling him to go commit suicide by jumping out of the nearest window (but it wouldn't work anyway because Nao lived on the second floor and while there was a 90% chance for him to get a serious injury from the fall, the chance of him surviving was almost 100%), and his logic, which was comforting him with the fact that cheesiness didn't matter if he got what he wanted in the end. He opened his mouth to clarify, but the sound of Nao's voice stopped him.

"Thanks, but no thanks," she stated firmly, turning around to face him, her eyes hard and almost cold with determination. "I'd rather you not. I don't need someone to constantly worry about me. Haven't I proven to you in these last few months that I'm okay even if you're not around?"

Her harsh words stabbed him hard. Had he been reading her wrong all this time? But before he had time to lick his self-pity wounds and make them hurt even more, she continued on, more softly this time.

"It's not that I don't appreciate the offer, but Akiyama-san, you have done more than a lifetime's worth of worrying in the past, and there are many worries still to come, so at least when you're with me, I just want you to be happy." Her eyes were pleading, begging him to understand what she's saying. "As happy as I am when I'm with you."

He stared into her eyes, subconsciously still not quite trusting that anyone, even Nao, could actually be so _good_, and to him nonetheless. She returned his look with her own steady gaze, her open earnest expression never wavering for a second as he searched it for signs of betrayal, his mind, having been flung off the emotional rollercoaster, was currently swimming in circles in an endless abyss of chaos. Could he really believe her words? He had always yearned for even just a little bit of the simple everyday happiness that normal people seemed to have, but could he have it too? Is it really possible, despite his past?

_If you're with her, it's possible. _The thought flashed through his mind and just like that, the dilemma was over. He was wholly and completely sold to a soul of goodness named Kanzaki Nao. He hoped fervently that it was the right decision and she'll take good care of that which he has entrusted to her.

Coming out of his thoughts, he realized with a start that they were still staring at each other and she was still waiting tensely for his reply. Sighing mentally and feeling like a very heavy load had just been lifted off his being, he answered her with a small wry smile.

"So, what's the name of that shampoo you bought?" His voice cracked and sounded horribly raw to his ears, but it didn't matter. Her eyes widened for a moment, as realization of his acceptance dawned on her, before her whole face lit up in one of the happiest smiles he's seen from her so far.

"Ah! Yes! It's called 'Guacamole & Lavender' and it's so good…."

Revelling in the new lightness he felt, he listened as she spent the rest of the time till dinner raving about her shampoo, not really hearing her words, but content for now, to just watch her move around the kitchen. Idly, he wondered if, in the process of falling in love with her, he'll ever reach a bottom where he'll stop discovering new things about her.

He certainly hoped not.

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Poor dinner, I glad it didn't burst into flames while it waited for Akiyama to sort out his emo'ness.... Yea, sorry it turned kinda serious and weird near the end. I blame it on the horrible cold I had for almost two weeks. Anyway, review and tell me what you think! XD


	3. S, M, & Kinky Sex

**A/N:** A big thank you to everyone who reviewed and/or faved and/or story alerted this! It's good to know that there are so many people who enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! And to celebrate it hitting 20 reviews, here's chapter 3, longer than the first two chapters combined! (Shhh! No talking about quality over quantity!) XD

Oh, I have to confess that I've never read the manga, so all mentions of previous incidents and other characters are based on the drama.

**Disclaimer: **Even if I claimed to own Akiyama & co., nobody would believe me anyway....

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Quickly, before you start, 2 words you may want to know:

**Sushi:** rice mixed with rice vinegar, usually served in restaurants (especially North American ones) as a seaweed-wrapped roll. In Japanese households, however, it is often mix with vegetables and/or fish and eaten loose (like regular rice but yummier).

**Nikujaga:** "niku" being meat and "jagaimo" being potato, this delectable dish is exactly what its name suggests - a stew with meat, potato, and other vegetables.

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**Chapter 3 – S, M, & Kinky Sex**

"I found out what S&M stood for today."

Nao's sudden statement had Akiyama choking on his wine like he had just inhaled it through his nose, which was pretty close to what actually happened.

They had been sitting across from each other in the kitchen, him on the good chair and her on the unstable spare chair that she never used unless she had a guest. The magazines from the cupboards, it turned out, were for propping up one of its legs to make it less wobbly. Being the stereotypical chivalrous young man trying to impress his lady friend, he had protested against being given the good chair, but she had insisted just as forcefully that the spare chair be hers because, in her own words, "if you don't sit on it in _just_ the right way, it will fall apart immediately." Seeing the determination in her expression to be a good hostess, and not really wanting to test the truthfulness of that statement, he had acquiesced reluctantly.

In between them were plates and bowls of scrumptious-looking food spread out so densely that the surface of the small dining table could not been seen. Not that he was complaining, because Nao, it turned out, was an awesome cook and the more of her food he could taste, the better. Knowing her character, he had half expected dinner to be a mismatch of various different types of food, including the baguette that he always saw sticking out of her grocery bag. Instead, the feast laid out before him was completely traditional Japanese, from his bowl of sushi to the big pot of nikujaga in the middle.

When he asked her about her choice of menu, she had simply smiled and replied, "You must have tasted so many different kinds of food while you were travelling around the world, but when was the last time you had homemade Japanese food?"

_Not since my mother died_. His response hung in the air between them unsaid, as both of them already knew what it was, and he was touched by her thoughtfulness.

"Not that I'd be able to make the food taste exactly like what you're used to eating before," she clarified hurriedly, a pretty blush rising to her cheeks, "but maybe it'll bring back some fond memories."

He had wanted to kiss her right there and then for being so good, _too _good, to him, but with a whole table full of food between them, she wasn't exactly within range so he settled for remembering the urge and acting upon it later.

He did give himself a mental pat on the back, though, for his good decision in buying a bottle of red wine before coming to visit tonight. Good wine, good food, the best woman in the world in front of him chattering away about nothing important, how could life get any better? He had been revelling in those thoughts, his brain too busy basking in the warm and fuzzy feelings to pay close attention to what she was talking about, so when her abrupt declaration came, it had caught him totally off guard. Hence, his current asphyxiation problem.

"Akiyama-san!" Nao was out of her seat in a second. Grabbing a couple of tissues from the box on the counter behind her, she flew to his side and knelt down, one hand offering them to him while the other one rubbed soothing circles on his back. "Are you okay?"

"What?" he managed to sputter out after much coughing, turning to face her and wondering if, perhaps, he was hearing things, even though he knew his ears were very sharp and almost always 100% accurate.

"I said, are you okay?" Seeing that he wasn't going to take the tissues, she wrapped them around two fingers and started dabbing them over his mouth.

He unconsciously batted her hand away impatiently. "No, no, before that. What did you say before that?"

She scrunched her face up in a cute little frown, trying to remember. "Um…Oh! I said I found out what S&M meant!" Evading his attempts to keep her hand away, she resumed what she was doing, her eyes following the movements of her fingers with a single-minded concentration. "You know, back in the Liar Game when we were doing the minority voting and we had that S&M question, but you wouldn't tell me what it meant except something about one being offense and the other being defence? Well it's been bugging me ever since!"

He stared at her. Oh god, so he did hear her correctly. They really were having this conversation. In the middle of dinner. While she was kneeling beside him with her eyes focused on his mouth and her fingers running back and forth over the same spot as she became too engrossed in her storytelling to pay attention to what she was doing. Even as he groaned mentally at the torture he was being subjected to, another part of his mind nudged him slyly and suggested that perhaps this was the chance that he had been waiting for.

"The other contestants during that round wouldn't tell me either when I asked them! And neither would any of the other contestants in any of the rounds after that! They all gave me this look–"

"Wait, wait, wait!" he interrupted, "you've asked other people that question too?"

"Yeah, and–"

"Didn't I tell you not to talk about it in public, especially not to strangers?"

Surprised at the sudden outburst, she turned her eyes to the wrist that he had grabbed before looking up to meet his angry gaze. "But I've only asked the other contestants!" she protested. "They're not strangers, they're friends! I mean, after going through the Liar Game together, we're practically family!"

He tightened his grip on her arm in anger. "No, you're not. They're nothing but acquaintances at most! Do you realize what could have happened if you asked the wrong person that question?"

"Oww! Akiyama-san! You're hurting me!"

He released her immediately upon hearing her cry of pain, shocked at how he had lost control. She rubbed her abused wrist with her other hand and glared at him. He saw guiltily that there were four telltale streaks of red across her white skin where his fingers had been.

"How could you say that about our friends? Are you saying that after everything we've been through, you and I are still only acquaintances? Because I thought we were closer than that." To his horror, her lower lip trembled as tears started to well up in her eyes.

Closing his eyes, Akiyama clenched and unclenched his hands a couple of times to calm the frustration arising within him before sighing in defeat. This was not the way he wanted this conversation to go. Well, the subject was S&M, so he wasn't even sure, himself, how he wanted it to go, but making her cry was definitely not it. Sighing again, he reached out a hand, hooked it around the back of her head and pulled her head gently to rest against his chest, running his hand down through her hair in what, he hoped, was a soothing manner. A part of him was still annoyed that she had completely misinterpreted his concern for antagonism, but to have made sweet-tempered Nao mad at him, he knew he had gone too far.

"Sorry," he murmured, "I didn't mean it like that."

He smiled softly when he felt the vertical movement of her head as she nodded, knowing that he had been forgiven, just like that. They stayed in that position for a while, enjoying the closeness to each other, and thankfully, his shirt remained dry. Before long, however, curiosity got the better of him and he broke the silence with a little reluctance.

"So, who did you ask?" he prodded, encouraging her to continue her story.

"All of them."

"A-All? Y-You…every one of them?" Too shocked to even form a complete sentence, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back gently, peering into her face, as if he needed to make sure she wasn't lying. A sense of dread crept up his spine when she lowered her eyes guiltily and nodded. Could she really have survived asking so many people that question without getting molested even once? Then, as some of her previous words flashed through his mind, he proceeded to ask his next question cautiously, not quite sure if he really wanted to know the answer or not "And…you said that none of them would tell you?"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed indignantly, the guilt and quietness suddenly gone as she lifted her eyes back up and resumed her story animatedly. "Can you believe it? I asked all of them and NOBODY would tell me! Most of them thought I was joking at first and many of them said I should go ask you! So I told them that you wouldn't tell me for some strange reason and you know what they said? 'Poor Akiyama-san!' Poor Akiyama-san! What about poor Nao? I'm the one whom there seems to be a big conspiracy against!"

She threw up her hands in exasperation and huffed, pushing her lower lip out in a pout and he couldn't help but let one corner of his mouth curl up in a small smile, both at how adorable she looked while sulking and at how nice the other participants had been to her. Maybe she had a point when she called them friends.

"Oh, except for Yokoya-san!"

Instantly she had his full attention again. The feeling of dread that had left a moment ago came slamming back into him at full force.

"Yokoya?"

Though he and his white haired rival had somewhat come to an understanding at the end of the game and they were now, at least, civil to each other, he still wouldn't trust that guy with a cent. The bastard was just too sly, merciless to boot, his emerald eyes seeing too much, too quickly, and he had this sick, sadistic pastime of breaking what's most important to other people just to fuck with their minds. Screeching to a mental stop, Akiyama went through that last sentence again. _Sadistic pastime. Sadistic bastard._ _OH GOD! _Terror-like panic gripped his heart as he slightly shook the shoulders he still held within his hands.

"What about Yokoya?" Contrary to his inner turmoil, his voice was dangerously calm, the silence of an assassin before he claimed his victim.

Nao gave him a baffled look, not understanding why he was suddenly looking at her so intensely. "Well, Yokoya-san said…." Slowly, she got up onto her feet, gently taking hold of his hands and pushed them off her shoulders before placing them at his side. He allowed it, not understanding why she was suddenly standing up but willing her to continue so that he could find out.

Clearing her throat, she lowered her eyelids to half-mast, the sudden sultry look in her eyes causing him to draw in a deep breath sharply. Which he promptly forgot to how to breathe out a second later as she suddenly grabbed his chin between the thumb and index finger of her right hand, tilting his face up with a small forceful jerk, a small foreign smirk adorning her face while her eyes bored into his, pouring molten lava into his whole being. Helpless against the intensity of the invisible compulsion, he could only watch as she slowly moved her face down to his, past his personal space bubble, until they were almost touching nose to nose. With a deliberate slowness, her eyelids lowered all the way down and when they lifted again, he saw that her fathomless irises were now focussed down on his mouth. Feeling her breath against his lips, he didn't have to look down to know that they were only about an inch apart. Unable to take his eyes off hers, he had to forcefully suppress a violent shudder along his spine as her gaze scraped against the contours of his mouth, up over the tip of his nose and along the bridge until she closed her eyes a second time before opening them to meet his again.

"…if you really want to know," her voice was low and soft, barely a tone above a purr, but the words fell on his lips in a way that he could almost taste them, "come with me and I'll show it to you in a way that you'll never forget…." She let go of his chin to run the back of her fingers along his jaw line, down his neck, and finally letting her fingertips rest lightly on his collarbone. This time, he couldn't stop the shiver that ran through his body at the promise in her words, actions, and tone of voice.

Her gaze went down to his mouth again and this time, he reciprocated the gesture, his eyes flickering down to look at hers. He groaned as he was met with the sight of her tongue, its pink tip barely showing in between her lips, making him want to touch it with his own, to lure it out of its hiding place, to see her reaction as he tugs on it with his teeth, to feel it against his….

Then it moved, and his thoughts came to a grinding halt as he watched it drag itself over the pink flesh, leaving a wet shiny trail in its wake. That was the last straw. With a growl at the top of his throat, Akiyama's iron-will self-control snapped as he threw everything to the wind and lunged….

….and almost fell out of his chair when he met nothing but air.

Opening his eyes, he saw with dismay that his target was now a foot and a half away from him, well out of his immediate kissing range. Furthermore, with a blink, the smouldering look in her eyes was gone, replaced with her usual happy-go-lucky smile.

"That's what he said!"

"What?" he asked stupidly, unable to grasp the sudden change of pace, his mind a jumble of dissonance. What just happened? Where was the mouth and tongue that he should have been playing with by now? Why was she back to her usual self? Where did the seductive temptress go?_ Unless…unless…_ He groaned internally. _It couldn't be that she was...._

"That's what Yokoya-san said!" she repeated beaming at him while confirming all his fears. "Did you like my imitation of him? I was good, wasn't I?"

"Hn." He turned and sat up rigid straight in his chair, crossing his arms in a defensive pose, refusing to look at her. While a part of him grudgingly admitted that she may, indeed, have a natural gift for acting, the bigger, bruised-ego part of him was torn between wanting to curl up and die of embarrassment and being furious over being played a fool. He was also shocked at how much it hurt to realize that her act was one of imitation and not seduction.

"Akiyama-san?"

He ignored her.

With a worried frown marring her face, she knelt down beside him once more and shook his arm apologetically. "Akiyama-san? Aww, Akiyama-san, don't sulk. I'm sorry if my actions shocked you, but I just wanted to show you exactly what his response was since you seemed so interested in it. I guess I should've known to hold back a little since I was pretty shocked when he did it to me too."

He turned to tell her that dammit, he was annoyed, _not_ sulking when the thought of Yokoya doing the same things to her stopped him and he remembered that there had been a bigger purpose to this conversation. Now that he knew exactly what it was that his rival had said and done to Nao, the previous fear that he had felt came back doubled, along with a cold fury for the man who dared to make such a bold move on his woman.

"So what did you say to him?" he gritted out, every word was now enunciated with a careful precision that promised to slice any wrong move in half. If that sick weirdo had dared to lay even one finger on his Nao, he was going to tear him apart, limb by bloody limb.

"I accepted, of course!"

"You accepted, _of course_!" He whipped around to stare at her in disbelief.

"Yeah, I did! But before I could get into his car, Fukunaga-san came and dragged me away. Apparently, he had overheard the whole conversation and he said that I shouldn't try and find out about it from Yokoya-san because that would be like betraying you, Akiyama-san. Well, I didn't really understand what he meant, but I couldn't very well do anything that would betray you, now could I? So I told Yokoya-san that I couldn't go with him after all." She pouted again. "And I was so close that time too!"

He let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding in an explosive sigh and pulled her roughly to him again, this time in an awkward hug of relief, catching her by surprise. For the first time ever, he found himself actually thankful for that mushroom head's lesser-of-the-two-evils existence. Yokoya, however, had better not cross the line of his vision ever again. _Show her in a way that she'll never forget, my ass_, he seethed, _if I ever find him within a one mile radius from her, HE will know pain in a way that he'll never forget._

"What am I going to do with you?" he mumbled rhetorically, focusing once more on the person in his arms.

Puzzled at the meaning behind his words but feeling his anxiety, Nao wrapped her arms around him and brought them up to his shoulders, patting him gently with one hand.

"I don't get it," she finally admitted. "Why is it such a big deal? It's not like it's strange or unusual."

He tightened his arms, but spoke in his usual calm tone. "It IS a big deal. I don't care what you say about any of the other people, but Yokoya is different. He, alone, you cannot ever trust. Uh uh!" he put his index finger against her lips as she opened her mouth to protest. "I know you believe otherwise and I can't change your mind, so can you at least promise me to never put yourself in a situation again where you're alone with him? You can still talk to him or whatever, just please, _please,_ for my peace of mind if nothing else, don't be alone with him. Can you promise me that?" If he could have it his way, his rival would have been deported from the country on the next plank of wood, but he knew that Nao would not comply to any limits he set, so this was as big of a concession as he could make, and even then the jealous possessive side of him was already screaming with rage.

Seeing the grave expression in his eyes, she could only nod in reply. "Okay, I promise, if it's that important to you."

Relief filled him, draining the tension away from his body and leaving him oddly tired and exhausted in a way that only interacting with Nao would. Still, he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

"Though…when I said that it's not a big deal, I was referring to S&M, not to Yokoya-san."

It took him a second to process that comment, and when he did he froze and then pulled back to gape at her in shock, the protective side of him feeling totally scandalized and almost _violated_ while his common sense tried frantically to grasp onto some sort of mental sanity hook so that it would not drown as it tried to reconcile the idea of Nao and S&M in the same sentence. Yet, another part of him, a naughty part the size and shape of his groin, couldn't help but perk up at the thought, nudging suggestive and graphic scenes into his mind. He would never be one for getting sick pleasure out of someone else's pain, but if Nao doesn't mind having a little more kinky relationship, well, that certainly opens up a lot more possibilities….

_Honey, in order to have kinky sex, you need to be having sex in the first place_, the snotty voice in his head interrupted. _Let's work on that first, hmm?_

Dammit!

Out loud, he picked his words carefully. "Oh? Is that so? Well, I don't really have a problem with it either, but not everyone is as…open-minded…as you and me, I suppose."

"Well, I understand why it may be rude to talk about it in public, especially to people who are sensitive about it, but I don't know why everyone had to be so secretive."

"I think they were trying to protect you."

Her eyebrows drew together as she frowned. "If you say so, but I still don't really understand…."

He smirked. Some things will never change, he decided, and Nao's pureness was one of them. Of course she wouldn't understand why people felt the need to protect her because, ironically, it's exactly the fact that she doesn't understand that makes people want to protect her in the first place.

"I'm not so sensitive about the issue that I'd freak out once I find out about it," she continued. "I mean, I may look like an M to some people sometimes, but I am definitely an S, so there's nothing for me to freak out about…."

His thoughts paused for a second. Huh, really…his Nao had a secret dominant side, did she now? Usually a control freak, he wasn't sure how much he liked that idea, but…he was open to new ideas. A mental image of Nao on top of him doing all sorts of wicked things to him while he watched, handcuffed to the bed appeared before his eyes, sending streaks of fire throughout his body and he decided that, oh yes, he was _very_ open to new ideas.

"And I think the people who do freak out need to take some time to search inside themselves and come to terms with who they really are…."

The rapidly shrinking portion of his brain that could still think rationally and logically, was astonished by the wisdom in her words, and mused silently that if only she wasn't so paradoxically innocent at the same time, he could have had a much tougher rival in psychology than Katsuragi Ryo.

"After all, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being an S or an M!"

He nodded absentmindedly in agreement, trying to figure out if there was any way he could speed up this conversation without offending Nao so they could get to the trying out those new ideas already.

"Or even an L!"

He caught himself in mid-nod, blinking in bemusement. "What?"

"Oh, I said there's nothing wrong with being an L! I know that Japanese society is all about being small, skinny and cute, especially for women! That's certainly the image they get for what guys want, so much so that for some, it's a vicious cycle of never being small enough, skinny enough, _cute_ enough! Well, I think it's absolute nonsense!" She threw up her hands in frustration, her voice getting louder and louder as she became more and more impassioned in her heartfelt speech. "Who cares about small and cute? Who cares about what guys want? I say just be yourself and wear whatever you want! So what if the trend is neutral earthy colors? I like my neon coloured clothes! So what if I'm S-sized? Sometimes I buy things M-sized because the style looks better looser! And my PJs are always L-sized because that's what's most comfy! And anyone who has a problem with that can just go and…and…buy their own clothes!" For emphasis, just in case her fierce non-threat wasn't effective enough, she crossed her arms, puffed out her cheeks, and glared at the air in front of her.

If Akiyama had been in any other sort of mindset, he would probably have found the whole scene before him absolutely adorable, but as it was, his mind had gone a curious blank shade of gray and, as if someone had turned the volume dial down in his head, the gleeful chanting of _Kinky sex! Kinky sex! Kinky sex!_ faded away to an eerie silence, leaving behind only the horrifying revelation that the kinky sex, or indeed any sort of sex at all, was still _well_ beyond out of his reach.

* * *

Aww, poor Akiyama! Ganbare! You're closer than you think! ...I think.... I hope I didn't overkill the S&M joke, but how can I be satisfied with only that tiny little scene in the drama? Anyway, I'm sorry about the lack of lemon in this chapter despite the title *ducks the rotten tomatoes*, it just wasn't time yet. Actually, I'm still debating whether to write one for this fic or not, cuz I've never written one so I'm kind of scared that it'll turn out disappointing, haha. Well, review and tell me what you think! XD


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